INTERVIEW WITH TONY MARTINS
Social media can
help break down
organizational silos and
solve supply chain
problems, argues
consultant Tony Martins.
He’s successfully put
that idea to the test
with his “hive” model
of communication.
Social media champion
BY JAMES A. COOKE, EDITOR AT LARGE
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A
thoughtleaders
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED THE WAY PEOPLE ACROSS THE GLOBE
communicate with one another. Through websites and applications like Facebook,
LinkedIn, and Twitter, users can not only create and share content virtually but
also engage in networking. Although most people associate social media with personal communication, consultant Tony Martins believes it can also play a valuable role in breaking down organizational silos to solve supply chain problems.
Martins, who has held executive-level supply chain positions at Halo
Pharmaceutical Inc., Teva Canada, and Ratiopharm Canada, now heads his own
consulting firm, Tony Martins & Associates. He began working with social media
in the workplace in 2005. He was so impressed with the potential power of these
tools that when he left the pharmaceutical industry to form his own supply chain
consulting practice, he decided to use social media as an integral part of his supply
chain management methodology.
As part of his consulting practice, Martins has used virtual spaces to foster collaboration among different organizations, functions, and companies. This virtual
collaboration has helped companies react faster to the many unexpected events
that every supply chain must contend with.
In an interview with Editor at Large James Cooke, Martins discussed how social
media could be put to work in any supply chain organization.
